Chaos War

The Chaos War is the second officially recognized war in the history of The Land, which took place between 8 Aut'gin and 7 Aut'mo', LY 912. Like the Order War of 903 (officially known as the Coming of the Order), the Chaos War is technically considered a civil war, as both sides of the conflict were members of the same country, the Second Order. The sides consisted of those loyal to King Demos Royal, who supported the existence of a secret society called The Cabal, and those loyal to Marshal Poss Primus, who opposed the Cabal. Primus himself was loyal to king-elect Quinn Darkstrider, though at this point Darkstrider had no official part in the war, as he would not be inaugurated until 26 Aut'mo', 912. The war resulted in the loss of over 8600 lives, altogether.

The Chaos War actually had its roots in the previous war, nine years earlier. In that war, the Protestant Movement had been established specifically to oppose The Plan, which is what led to the establishment of the Second Order in 904, thereby uniting all the world's villages under a single government, the World Council. Though the Protestants lost the war, and were granted amnesty, many of them remained resentful over the years. One person who remained perhaps more resentful than anyone was Darius Lonewander, who had been too young to take part in the war himself, but whose clan had been an important part of the Protestant Movement. They were all apparently killed in the Battle of Triscot, excluding only Darius and his uncle West Lonewander (who also hadn't taken part in the war). Ever since then, Darius intended to someday start a rebellion, and return the world to its previous state, with each village being independent. In Sp'gin of 912, he started a group called The Chaos, which he expected would take an unknown number of years to grow to a point where it was ready to openly rebel against the Second Order. Though the war ended up coming far sooner than Darius expected, and though it ultimately took a different form than expected, and was fought for different reasons and with different goals, the Chaos became the subject of great public interest, and it played an important part in the events leading up to the war. Because of this, the war was named after the Chaos.

Several members of the Chaos played prominent roles in the war itself, most notably Alecstar Inco, whom Poss Primus granted a temporary commission as general. Ginger Protestant, Cameron Piper, and Tiejo Streetrat were all given temporary commissions as lieutenants, due to their help in recruiting allies to serve Poss. Ginger (like her father Therman in the first war) recruited Protestants, Cameron recruited ex-Sorreters, and Tiejo recruited Rats. Darius Lonewander, Emma Pseud, and Tom Morales were all granted temporary commissions as soldiers. Additionally, Darius had previously approached a pirate named Alphonse Teach about organizing a navy to help in his eventually rebellion. Now, Alphonse became an admiral, and the pirate navy he assembled served on Poss's side. Aside from the civilian recruits and pirates, Poss was also joined by two of the Army's regiments, that of Kimrin (led by Colonel Stavros Supprus) and of Plist (led by Col. Montgomery Orthodox).

The forces loyal to Poss Primus ultimately won, but before King Demos could be arrested, he escaped and went into hiding. A full investigation attempted to uncover as many members of the Cabal as possible, but the majority of them remain unidentified. It is, however, believed that the group disbanded, and has had no direct influence over the government since the war ended. The outcome of the war also led to the Secession Referendum of 913, which established the United Villages of the Chaos as the Land's second country, while Sorret and West Ocean became sovereign states.